Engaging with Russia: the New Phase

As the G-8 countries prepare for their 2006 meeting in St. Petersburg—chaired by President Vladimir Putin—this study examines the state of relations with, and performance of, the Russian president. The three authors—a former British and a former Japanese ambassador to Moscow and a former U.S. deputy secretary of state—analyze the challenges Russia faces and its performance in reaching democratic and market goals. They also make recommendations for helping Russia meet these goals.

Sir Roderic Lyne is special adviser to the BP Group and HSBC Bank and former British ambassador to Russia. Strobe Talbott is president of the Brookings Institution. He served as deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. For twenty-one years prior to his service in government, he was correspondent and columnist for Time magazine. He has written nine books, including The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy (Random House, 2002), a personal account of U.S. diplomacy toward Russia during the Clinton administration. Koji Watanabe is a senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange and was Japanese ambassador to Russia and to Italy.